Weekly Wrap-Up: Butchering Chickens, Time Management, and Too Much Reading

In my life this week…We did something we all dreaded. We butchered our chickens. For years I had not been well enough to participate in this annual event. Miss 18 had always been the leader in this project, but she`s moved on and is now contemplating butchering a cow.

That meant that Mr. 16 was the most experienced of us all. None of the younger girls had ever been involved. And we were all very, very scared.

But, with Mr. 16 in charge, Miss 13 and I learned quickly, and the three of us did all 24 chickens in a morning, clean-up included! Miss 11, inside, washed and trimmed the meat and packed it into freezer bags. Miss 9 was a very busy and indispensible gofer.

We did it. We know we can do it. And we know we did it well. What a feeling!

In our homeschool this week…

Miss 9 is learning to read well and can finally add and subtract without using her fingers. I`m so thankful. We`ll keep up with the drill for a long time, though.

We have weekly goals for all the children, and daily ones for the Little Misses. I only schedule a few subjects for the children, though I insist that they work in the mornings. They have to decide when to do the rest, and that is a difficult, difficult skill, as we all know from experience. Hopefully this time-management training will pay off in the long run. I do wish I`d had more practice when I was young.

We`re starting to think about NaNoWriMo. Miss 13 and Miss 9 are planning stories, determining character names, and doing background research. Miss 11 supports Miss 9, but there`s no way she`s going to write anything herself. And I`m not going to write a novel, but if I can get my other work for November finished ahead of time, I may try to write a non-fiction book….

One nature walk turned into a history walk when we came across an old, roofless log cabin, the remains of a cellar, and much old garbage and farm equipment. I think the cellar will form part of Miss 9`s NaNo novel.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

Success is the sum of small effort repeated day in and day out.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

We saw neighbors, church friends, and the judo crowd. Swimming lessons were cancelled, but we walked to the library and hiked some nearby woods, enjoying the fall colors. The woods were full of garter snakes; they seem to be out and about on warm fall days, scraping their little scales across the dry leaves.

I’m grateful for …

Conquering our fears and accomplishing the butchering.

Warm fall weather.

Getting the septic system working again.

Watching more DVD`s than we ever have in a week.

Eating pumpkin cheesecake and apple pie.

Walking in the woods.

Watching the Little Misses make a tipi.

Skim reading a few books just for fun.

Having so much more time now that the harvest is almost finished. With all the reading and DVD`s I actually had a mini-holiday.

Questions/thoughts I have…

It was difficult for us to carve out the time to watch our DVD`s: Kilimanjaro (an Imax film), Sisters in the Wilderness (review coming up), Dave Ramsey `s Foundations in Personal Finance Homeschool Curriculum(Dave is so funny that these lessons are now becoming a family event), and the first half of Shakespeare`s Henry V (BBC version). I cannot imagine where families can find the time to watch several hours of TV each day.

Although there`s much goodness and wisdom in Shakespeare (as well as a lot of silliness), it always bothers me hugely when the actors use God`s name in vain. Sometimes I wonder if we should be studying Shakespeare at all….

Cassandra and Jane (gloomy novel about Jane Austen and her sister, written by a woman who had a life-threatening illness for 6 months),

The Millionaire Mind (just curious; I have no aspirations to become a millionaire, but the mindset may help with ordinary finances), and

The Resilient Gardener (a woman with celiac disease discusses gardening, eating, exercise, and life as well as how to grow potatoes, corn, beans, squash, and eggs).

Read Alouds…

The children and I have almost finished Little Women, and the Little Misses and I are continuing Jan en Janneke in Canada together. Miss 13 and I are reading De Wonderslee, a short Dutch novel, together. Our next read aloud is lost somewhere in our many bookshelves….

Oh, gosh, I don’t think I could butcher our chickens! The kids and I incubated eggs and have 7 hens and 3 roosters. We’re hoping to rehome the roosters, but many people suggest we make them dinner. We can’t do it! They’re pets and named! We certainly understand why OTHER people do this though!

Last Saturday our four oldest girls went to help some friends butcher chickens. They said it was fun. Justine especially likes it, and she’s the one that enjoys dissecting things, too. We’ve done it once, with some help to show us how to do it. I wasn’t even home at the time, which was fine with me. You did really well to get that many done and cleaned up in a morning. Good for you for facing it and getting the job done!

Yay for a great week…except the chicken butchering. Actually, I wish I had the nerve to do it. I think our chickens are more like pets that give us eggs. I doubt we ever butcher one of them…they’ll just have to die of old age:)

We’re getting ready for NaNo Wri Mo too! I can’t wait- I’ll work right alongside the girls while they work on their books. Last year, I actually got an entire book done and had fun doing it. Hope you have fun too!

Since there's more to being a homeschooling mom than resources, there's more here as well: weekly wrap-ups, encouragement to be a wise, loving, fun, and frugal mom, the occasional devotional, and lots of interesting links.